


a love that won't keep still

by spinnerofyarns



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Jared being precious, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 04:12:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8272354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinnerofyarns/pseuds/spinnerofyarns
Summary: Jared adopts a rescue greyhound and he and Richard move out of Erlich's incubator. Title from "Stray Italian Greyhound" by Vienna Teng





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! If you're reading this and/or if you've ever enjoyed anything I've written, I hope you'll consider participating in the SV fan fundraiser for CAIR and the ACLU. You can donate anytime between now and March 15, and any little bit helps! Go here for more info: https://svagainsttyranny.tumblr.com/

            Jared starts working at the Palo Alto animal shelter after about a year at Hooli. He discovers the shelter through an event Gavin funds – and makes Jared supervise – where Hooli employees get to play with dogs for 30 minutes at a time to relieve the stress of their work. In a conversation with Emily, a college-aged girl holding the leash of a huge docile Leonberger, he finds out that the shelter is looking for volunteers, and gives her his email address so she can send him the paperwork.

            During his first shift, he’s the only person who can get a skittish scared cat to let him examine her for injuries, and the first person to convince a skinny sad Irish setter to go outside to play with him. Emily laughs and says he has a gift for taking care of animals.

            “One of my foster families had a dog, and I spent a lot of time playing with it,” he says by way of explanation. The dog was a pit bull mix named Bruiser that suffered almost as much as he did at the hands of its owner. He wanted desperately to take Bruiser with him when he left, but his caseworker said it wouldn’t be possible. He hopes Bruiser eventually got out too.

            He does his best to come in every weekend. It’s such a different environment from Hooli, where everything is fast-paced and bright and loud and stressful. Here, everything moves at its own pace, whether that’s the fast pace of a running Labrador chasing his favorite ball or the leisurely pace of a fluffy Persian cat making her way over to her food bowl. The people are unfailingly kind and polite to him, and the animals love him, leaning into his touch and climbing over the walls of their cages to get to him. He loves them all, every single cat and dog and guinea pig and rabbit and bird. Every summer they get a lot of rabbits, Easter gifts that their recipients got bored of, and his first summer there Jared organizes an adoption event specifically for rabbits and other small pets. Almost every single bunny finds a new home. None of them return to the shelter while he’s there.

            He’s been volunteering for 6 years and working at Pied Piper for two (and dating Richard for one and a half) when he meets Lucky.

            Emily meets him at the door when he comes in and says “We’ve got another one that needs your magic touch, Jared, her name’s Lucky and she’s a greyhound rescued from an illegal racetrack. They brought her in yesterday and she hasn’t touched her food or moved at all since she got here.” She leads him to Lucky’s cage at the end of a long hallway lined with dogs of varying sizes in their cages.

            When Jared sees her he understands what people mean when they describe something as “heartwrenching.” Seeing this dog, scared and small and skinny with big wide brown eyes and floppy ears that quiver with the rest of her as she looks up at him, makes him feel like someone’s reached into his chest, grabbed his heart, and wrenched it, hard, as though trying to pull it out.

            Jared unlatches Lucky’s cage and kneels in front of her, trying to make himself smaller and less intimidating. “Hey, Lucky,” he says softly, looking straight at her. “Hey, shhhh, it’s all right, you’re safe now.” He pulls a treat out of his pocket and reaches – slowly, gently, tentatively – to offer it to her, and takes it as a good sign when she doesn’t shy away and takes the treat. “Shhh, it’s okay, you’re okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” he says, gently reaching out to pet the top of her head. She closes her eyes and nudges her nose against his arm.

            Emily appears next to him with a bowl of dog food. “Try to get her to eat something, okay?” she says. “And then maybe go for a walk, she could use some exercise.”

            Jared nods, continuing to pet Lucky. He puts the bowl of food down in front of her and continues petting her neck as she bends her head to eat. “Good, you’re doing great, you’re going to be okay, you’re safe, it’s okay,” he repeats over and over again, as softly and soothingly as he can. Lucky empties the bowl, then stands up on skinny shaky legs.

            “Do you want to go for a walk?” Jared asks. At the words, Lucky nuzzles happily against his leg. “Okay, come with me, sweetheart.” He grabs a collar and leash from a peg behind the front desk and kneels to put it on Lucky. She stiffens a little when he clasps the collar around her neck, but relaxes again as he pets her.

            He clips the leash on and stands up again. As he straightens his legs, his knees crack loudly and Lucky tenses beside him.

            “Sorry,” he says, bending down to pet her head. “Shh don’t worry, it’s okay, you’re okay. Let’s go.” He leads her out of the building and walks her around the block a couple times. There’s a park a few blocks away where he and the other volunteers usually take shelter dogs, but judging by the sheer terror with which Lucky looks at the cars driving by, crossing the street and walking even that distance isn’t going to happen today.

            Lucky stays glued to his side for the rest of his shift, refusing to go back to her cage until he’s about to leave.

            “I’m sorry, Lucky, I have to go home now. I’ll be back soon, okay?” He gives her another treat as he shuts and locks the door to her cage.

            “She loves you,” Emily says. “You should take her, I have a feeling she’s going to be hard to re-home, and…I don’t want to have to put her down,” she whispers.

            Jared considers it. “I’ll have to talk to my boyfriend,” he says. “And I don’t think Richard’s big on dogs.”

            “She’s the dog version of you, how could he not love her?”

\----

            On Monday night Jared gets a call from Emily.

            “Can you come in tomorrow? Lucky isn’t eating again, she’s just lying in her cage. She misses you.”

            Jared sighs. “I can stop by in the morning, but I’ve got a meeting at 2 PM I can’t skip.”

            “Okay, see you then.”

            The next morning he drives to the shelter. Emily meets him at the door.

            “She missed you, Jared,” she says. “She’ll only listen to you, you have to take her home.”

            Jared sighs, kneeling in front of Lucky’s cage again. “I’ll talk to Richard, I promise.”

            At the sight of him, Lucky jumps to her feet, excited.

            “Hey, sweetie,” he says, unlatching her cage and laughing as Lucky jumps out and starts licking his face. “Hey, girl, did you miss me? Huh?”

            Lucky answers by licking his face even more aggressively.

            “Okay, okay, let’s get you some food.” Jared stands up, and Lucky nuzzles her face against his leg, and sticks by his side as he walks into the back room to get her food.

            He spends the morning playing with Lucky and Emily, watching Lucky slowly warm up to Emily as Emily keeps feeding her treats and petting her. But when he moves to leave, Lucky follows him all the way to the door and looks at him with big sad scared eyes.

            “I’ll be back in a couple days, sweetie,” Jared says, kneeling to pet Lucky and looking into her eyes. “In the meantime Emily will take care of you, okay?”

            Lucky whines, but obediently sits by Emily’s side as Jared leaves.

            That night in bed, with Richard wrapped around him, Jared brings up an idea.

            “Richard, how do you feel about getting a dog?” he asks softly.

“Hmm?” Richard traces his finger over Jared’s collarbones. “I mean, we had a dog when I was growing up, and I want a dog at some point but don’t you think we should have our own apartment first? I’m not sure Erlich would take too kindly to a dog in the incubator.”

Jared sighs. “I suppose. It’s just…there’s this one dog at the shelter I volunteer at, she’s a rescue greyhound and she’s the sweetest thing ever and I want to take her home.”

            Richard rests his hand on Jared’s chest, over his heart. “I mean…I definitely wouldn’t say no.”

            Jared smiles. “Well, that’s a start.”

\----

            When Jared arrives at the shelter that Saturday, Lucky nearly knocks him over in her excitement. As he kneels to pet her and allow her to lick his face, he notes that she looks much healthier, her fur sleek and shiny and her body lean and muscular and warm.

            “Hi, baby,” he says, smiling as she licks his neck. “Did you miss me, huh?”

            “She’s doing better,” Emily says as Jared stands up, “but rehoming her still won’t be easy. Have you talked to your boyfriend?”

            Jared rubs the back of his neck. “He’s all for it but our living situation is a bit…cramped. We’re looking for an apartment of our own, though, and then Lucky can come home with us.”

            Emily sighs. “Okay. How long do you think it’ll take?”

            Jared shrugs. “A month or two at least.”

            “It’s just that we can only keep her for one month at the most, and then…well.”

            Jared pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Okay. I’ll talk to Richard.”

\----

            This time Richard relents, when Jared shows him pictures of Lucky on his phone. “Oh god, she’s perfect,” he says. “We need her. I don’t care what Erlich says, I’ll fight him if I have to, we’re getting this dog.”

            The next day Jared buys dog food, toys, and a bed, fills out the adoption paperwork, and brings Lucky home to meet Richard.

            Lucky sniffs cautiously at Richard’s fingers before nudging her head into his palm and allowing him to pet her. Jared smiles. “She likes you.”

            Richard kneels in front of Lucky and lets her sniff his face and neck. She licks his nose, and he laughs. “I like her.”

            “She needs a walk,” Jared says. “Do you want to go with us?”

            Richard nods. “One sec, let me get my shoes on.”

            They walk Lucky up and down their street, because she whines and refuses to go any further, and when they come home Erlich’s waiting for them.

            “What the hell, Jared?” he asks when he sees Lucky. “You couldn’t have at least _asked_ me before bringing a dog home?”

            Richard immediately starts scrambling for some sort of response, while Jared kneels beside Lucky, scratching behind her ears as he removes her leash. “I – we’re – it’s only – this is temporary, we’re moving out soon anyway and – “

Jared stands up and cuts Richard off. “She’ll only be here a couple months, Erlich, we’re looking for our own apartment, we’ll be out of your hair soon. It’s just that the shelter can’t keep her that long and the other option was…well…” He trails off.

            Erlich sighs. “Fine. But I swear to god if it ruins the furniture you’re both dead.” He starts walking away, and then turns around. “Wait. What was that you said about moving out?”

            “We’re looking for an apartment of our own,” Richard says. “I mean, it makes sense, we’ve got Pied Piper up and running now, and besides it would be nice to be able to…y’know, have a normal relationship without worrying about making everything weird with PDA and stuff.”  

            Erlich frowns. “Good luck finding a decent apartment around here.”

\----

            But Erlich – and everyone else in the house – slowly warms to Lucky, and she warms to them. At first, Jared and Richard keep her and all her things in their room, in order not to bother anyone else, but she whines and scratches at the door and Jared looks so heartbroken that Richard goes and lets her out of the room. As soon as he opens the door, she bounds over to Jared and puts her head in his lap, and he scratches behind her ears.

            Erlich scoffs and mutters something about “dog people”, but Dinesh tentatively asks if he can pet Lucky.

            “You can try,” Jared says. “She’s very anxious. Here, she’s more likely to like you if you give her a treat.” He stands up and goes into his and Richard’s bedroom, and returns with a bag of dog treats. Dinesh takes one and holds it out to Lucky, his hand held flat to allow her to sniff him.

            He passes the test – Lucky takes the treat and allows him to gently pet her head. Gilfoyle watches all this with his customary smirk.

            “She’s adorable,” Dinesh says as Lucky curls up under the table, resting on Jared’s feet. “I don’t get what Erlich’s problem is.”

            “I mean, I did bring a dog into his house without asking,” Jared admits.

            “But she’s the dog version of you.”

            Jared looks down. “I don’t think he likes the human version of me much either.”

            There’s silence for a minute, and Richard gently places his hand on Jared’s knee under the table.

\----

            Finding a decent apartment turns out to be much easier than Erlich’s comment led them to expect. Jared spends several hours scrolling through listings online, on the couch with Richard wrapped around him commenting on the ones he likes. For several weekends in a row they talk to real estate agents and visit open houses in the area, and then, a couple months after starting their search, they find the perfect place.

            Richard knows it’s the one the moment they walk in. The apartment complex is about a half-hour drive from the Pied Piper offices, with its own pool and a large green park just a short walk away where Lucky can run around and burn off energy. The apartment itself is a 2-bedroom loft, airy and bright, with large windows that let in plenty of natural light. It’s small, but it’s cozy, and Richard can easily imagine living here.

            Next to him, Jared lets out a soft “oh!” of happiness. Richard looks up at him.

            “It’s perfect, isn’t it?” he says. Jared nods.

\----

            Months later, on a rainy Sunday in October, Jared wakes up to a cold damp nose in his face and a loud excited bark.

            “Good morning, Lucky,” he says, sitting up. “Let’s go for a walk.”

            Beside him, Richard groans. “Jared, you’re not _seriously_ going out in _this,_ ” he says.

            “Lucky needs her exercise. Besides, I’ll have you to warm me up when I get home, won’t I?”

**Author's Note:**

> genyys/joycecarolnotes wanted backstory on Lucky so...here it is.
> 
> I'm bpdjareddunn on tumblr, come talk to me about these precious nerds!


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